Ways to Connect

John Coltrane, whose 90th birthday is Friday, September 23rd, had a short but episodic career. On the latest edition of Jazz Beat, New England Public Radio’s Tom Reney takes a look at an important transition in Coltrane’s life, when he made his final tour with Miles Davis and first began playing soprano saxophone, which was a gift from Miles to the tenor sax-playing icon.

The latest edition of Jazz Beat delivers some great music along with an appreciation of the great jazz saxophonist Houston Person. Person, who frequently plays in Western New England, is an exemplar of why the role of "keeper of the flame" is essential to the tradition and future of jazz.

On Jazz Beat 23, Tom Reney speaks with Benny Golson about his memoir, Whisper Not: The Autobiography of Benny Golson. In their conversation, Golson vividly recalls the impact of seeing Lionel Hampton’s band with Arnett Cobb when he was 14; the challenge of composing I Remember Clifford for his “friend forever,” Clifford Brown; and his friendship with John Coltrane and other aspects of his Philadelphia boyhood. He expands upon a previously undocumented night when Louis Armstrong sat in with Tadd Dameron’s band in Atlantic City and engaged in a “time battle” with Clifford Brown.

Joey DeFrancesco plays the Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival on Saturday, August 6th. Joey was still in his teens when he was hailed as a Young Lion and keyboard phenom who helped revive the Hammond organ&rsquo;s prominence in jazz in the late 1980s. He was renowned around Philadelphia when Miles Davis heard him on a Philly TV show in 1987, and the following year Davis featured the 17-year-old on a five-week tour of Europe. (See Joey D performing &ldquo;Tu Tu&rdquo; with Miles on the NEPR Jazz Blog: Miles Davis and the Young Philadelphians.

In the latest episode of Jazz Beat, New England Public Radio’s Tom Reney speaks with Terri Lyne Carrington. The drummer and composer offers her thoughts on what saxophonist Benny Golson calls “the late arrival of justice,” with the advent of a new wave of women in jazz. Carrington shares some of the inspiration behind “The Mosaic Project,” recorded with an all-female ensemble and winner of the “Best Jazz Vocal Album” category at the 54th Grammy Awards in 2012.

In the latest edition of Jazz Beat, New England Public Radio's Tom Reney uses personal memories and a true love of the blues to bring cultural context to a moment in musical history, when Howlin Wolf appeared on the American TV show Shindig!, through which we can appreciate this American blues master.

For this episode of New England Public Radio’s Jazz Beat, Bill Mays discusses his new book, "Stories of the Road, the Studios, Sidemen & Singers: 55 Years in the Music Biz." Mays is a veteran pianist who’s worked in an amazing variety of settings with scores of musicians. Born in Sacramento, California in 1944, Bill did extensive work in Los Angeles studios for a couple of decades before he moved to New York in 1984. Bill Mays is donating all of the proceeds from sales of the book to the Musicians Fund of the American Federation of Musicians.

The latest edition of Jazz Beat showcases one of Tom Reney's favorites, New England pianist Dave McKenna. This essay is a demonstration of jazz styles, and of the sheer joy of being a true fan of great music.

In the latest episode of Jazz Beat, New England Public Radio's Tom Reney remembers baritone saxophone player Joe Temperley and the impact he made on the jazz world. Hailing from Scotland didn't separate Joe from this quintessentially American music; on the contrary, the music drew him to America and drew musicians to him.

In this episode of New England Public Radio's Jazz Beat, Jazz a la Mode host Tom Reney celebrates the life and saxophone of the great Johnny Griffin. The scope of Griffin's career offers us a nice panorama of jazz through the 20th century as African American music, even when it had to move to Europe!